Chapter 394: Hero Substance
"Kakashi, you look distracted. Did something happen?" Tsunade asked while chatting with Kakashi as Konoha's ninja team hurried toward the Land of Rain.
Thanks to Amamiya Kenichi, the Ninja World now had the strange invention known as airships, but Tsunade had no intention of using one for this mission. After all, airships were no longer a secret. The people of the Ninja World had already begun studying those huge flying machines themselves.
Because of that, running across the ground and moving through the forest was still the more discreet option.
"It's nothing, Lady Tsunade," Kakashi said, shaking his head.
He was the same as ever, with his mask pulled up to cover one eye. Although he could now freely control and activate his Sharingan, and the three-tomoe Sharingan was no longer a burden to him, he had kept it hidden out of habit.
As for the matter of his friend visiting Konoha, ambushing him, and performing surgery on him, Kakashi had no intention of mentioning it for now. After all, he was in Anbu, and he had some suspicions about the actions of Konoha's higher-ups.
If they found out, it might not be good for either him or Amamiya.
Very troublesome things could happen. For example, what if he were ordered to cooperate with certain experiments? What if they removed his eyes for research? What would he do then? Become a rogue ninja?
So Kakashi said nothing.
He did not want to invite trouble upon himself.
Tsunade did not pay too much attention to it. She was currently moving while thinking about the intelligence they had received.
"Hero's Water that can increase Chakra tenfold... the existence of something like that..." Tsunade took a deep breath.
She had a premonition that this matter would not be settled without bloodshed.
At this moment, she was certainly not the only one leading Konoha ninja toward the Land of Rain. It was easy to predict that the other four countries would send people as well. Hidden Mist Village would likely arrive last, given how far away it was.
However, with airships, they probably would not be delayed for too long.
"This place, the Land of Rain, really is..." Tsunade licked her lips.
She was almost traumatized by Amegakure in the Land of Rain. Last time, Jiraiya had nearly died here. His former disciple had shown no mercy at all against his own teacher, which sent a chill through her.
Before that, there had also been Hanzo, a powerful ninja, though he had most likely already died at the hands of the Akatsuki Organization.
"Lady Tsunade, we're about to enter the Land of Rain. Should we conceal ourselves?" a ninja beside her asked in a low voice.
He had a pair of white eyes. Clearly, he was a member of the Hyuga clan.
Of course, he was from the branch family.
Ever since Ao obtained the Byakugan from the Hyuga clan, members of the Hyuga main family no longer appeared on the battlefield. Those sent on missions were branch family members marked with the Caged Bird seal.
Their Byakugan allowed them to observe the battlefield, making them excellent sensory ninja.
"No need. This place is already overflowing with people," Tsunade said, narrowing her eyes as she looked ahead.
The importance of this information to the Ninja World went without saying.
It could be said that every ninja in the Ninja World knew the major Villages would come to investigate this intelligence. There was nothing strange about that. Before Hero's Water was found, the ninja of the Five Great Ninja Villages could still coexist in relative harmony.
The conflict would truly erupt the moment Hero's Water was discovered.
Thus, Konoha's ninja group openly entered the Land of Rain.
And just as Tsunade expected, it did not take long before they encountered ninja from Hidden Cloud Village.
"Darui?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow as she looked at the ninja in front of her.
Hidden Cloud Village had actually sent Darui?
But he did not seem to be accompanied by another Jinchuriki. That made sense. If they had brought a Jinchuriki, then this would no longer be intelligence gathering, but the beginning of a war.
"Oh, isn't this Lady Tsunade? Did Konoha receive that intelligence too?" Darui asked, yawning lazily. He looked somewhat listless.
Behind Darui were three ninja squads.
It seemed Hidden Cloud Village and Konoha had the same idea, sending out three ninja squads.
"Which of the Five Great Ninja Villages didn't receive it?" Tsunade replied with a smile.
Because Hidden Cloud Village and Konoha currently maintained a fragile strategic alliance, the atmosphere between Tsunade and Darui was not too tense.
Darui glanced at Tsunade and the ninja team behind her, then narrowed his eyes. Although he still looked lazy, he clearly had some thoughts of his own.
"Lady Tsunade, I wonder if Konoha intends to work with our Hidden Cloud Village to drive out the other competitors first?" Darui asked with a smile.
Tsunade shook her head without hesitation.
"Darui, we're all adults here. There's no need to say meaningless things like that," Tsunade said coldly.
Although Konoha and Hidden Cloud Village currently had some cooperative ties, she did not believe that relationship was truly close.
As long as there was enough profit involved, Hidden Cloud Village could betray Konoha at any time.
Of course, Konoha could also betray Hidden Cloud Village at any time.
Cooperating to drive out the other Ninja Villages? Only children would believe that.
Darui shrugged and said nothing more.
As they drew closer to Amegakure, Tsunade and Darui split up.
They both knew where their destination was, but in the end, ninja could not truly travel together.
The rainy Amegakure thus welcomed a group of uninvited guests.
"What is this substance?"
Meanwhile, in the Land of Snow, Amamiya Kenichi stood in his laboratory. His Mangekyo Sharingan rotated faintly in his eyes as he frowned at the Hero's Water before him.
After releasing the bait, Amamiya Kenichi only needed to wait patiently for it to bear fruit.
Of course, even if it did not achieve the desired effect, he had arranged other backup plans to solve the problem.
So now, he had some time to research things that interested him.
As for his side mission, Amamiya Kenichi was not in a hurry. Mastering the Eight Gates Release Technique was not simple. He was still tempering his physical strength, and even wore heavy weighted bags while conducting experiments.
Even with the Sage Body of the First Hokage, Amamiya Kenichi was not stingy when it came to training his body.
After all, physical strength determined one's combat power after opening the Eight Gates. Might Guy had trained for so many years to achieve such an astonishing kick as Night Guy.
[99.93% water, 0.04% mysterious substance, 0.03% spiral protein.]
This was the composition of Hero's Water.
It was very simple.
Amamiya Kenichi even felt that he could directly decompose the Hero's Water before him. Of course, he did not intend to do so casually. His current curiosity lay with the mysterious substance inside Hero's Water.
Protein, naturally, needed no explanation. Although it was spiral-shaped, it was still understandable.
But the completely incomprehensible mysterious substance gave Amamiya Kenichi a headache. He knew its constituent elements, but knowing those elements did not mean he knew what it was.
It was like having a clump of atoms and electrons thrown in front of his face and being asked to identify the object.
"But if nothing goes wrong, this should be the fundamental reason Hero's Water has such a miraculous effect, right? So can I extract this substance, and then..." Amamiya Kenichi licked his lips.
According to his previous speculation, the essence of Hero's Water should be to promote rapid cell division and consume the telomere length in DNA, thereby increasing the user's Chakra exponentially.
Of course, consuming telomere length would also shorten the user's lifespan.
Among the more reliable methods for achieving human immortality, one approach was increasing telomere length, allowing human genetic information to replicate indefinitely and thus extending human life.
Of course, transferring consciousness into a computer and becoming a digital life was another possibility. But that method was much more distant, because it involved one key question.
What exactly was human consciousness?
Brain waves?
Something composed of memories and emotions in the brain?
This was both a philosophical question and a scientific one.
A problem in a person's brain could even cause amnesia. If that person completely forgot their past, even their name, then acquired new memories, was the resulting person still the same individual or a second person?
These questions were the key challenges of digital life.
Of course, these had nothing to do with what Amamiya Kenichi was currently researching.
"Deconstruct."
With a thought from Amamiya Kenichi, the water within the Hero's Water dispersed, leaving some silvery-white substances in front of him.
Amamiya Kenichi quickly placed these substances into a test tube, then injected them into the bloodstream of a test subject.
"How do you feel?" Amamiya Kenichi asked, looking at the test subject before him.
The subject was a Genin who had received his blessing.
"I don't feel anything special," the other party said, shaking his head.
Amamiya Kenichi fell into thought.
It seemed that direct injection into the bloodstream would not cause any immediate problems.
Next, Amamiya Kenichi had the other party perform Ninjutsu.
[After purifying the mysterious substance in Hero's Water and injecting it into the test subject's bloodstream, the test subject showed no obvious physical abnormalities. His Chakra volume also increased, but only by about eight times.]
[The amount of Hero's Water used for purification this time was still forty milliliters, but there was a twofold difference. Is this due to loss during purification? Is water necessary for the effect? Or is it due to injecting the substance into the bloodstream?]
Amamiya Kenichi scratched his head, but he did not dwell on it too much.
Experiments were never successful in one attempt, and unexpected results were normal. He had plenty of time and energy to slowly conduct research.
So next, Amamiya Kenichi began observing whether the test subject's total Chakra volume would remain in its current state, or whether there was a time limit.
"If it matches my hypothesis, then the increase in total Chakra volume should definitely have a time limit. After all, cells themselves are constantly aging, dying, and regenerating." Amamiya Kenichi licked his lips as he had the Genin refine Chakra to recover his state.
"If we assume the Hero Substance in Hero's Water can stimulate rapid division and proliferation of Chakra-producing and Chakra-containing cells inside a ninja's body, then when those cells die, the body should return to its normal cellular cycle, restoring the total Chakra volume to its original value."
Amamiya Kenichi wrote his thoughts into the experimental log.
As he wrote, his eyes narrowed.
If his hypothesis was correct, then this observation could also confirm another question.
Hero's Water increased a ninja's Chakra by multiple times by stimulating rapid cell division and production.
In that case, he would have deciphered the fundamental reason why Hero's Water caused aging and death.
[Fifty-seven minutes and thirty-six seconds have passed since the test subject was injected with the Hero Substance. The test subject reported a sense of loss. After testing, it was found that his Chakra was no longer as abundant as before.]
Amamiya Kenichi checked the time, then looked at the Genin, who had become like a salted fish. He could not help frowning slightly.
He had not expected that directly injecting the Hero Substance would only be effective for fifty-seven minutes, not even a full hour.
"Normally, the lifespan of cells isn't fixed. Some cells can live for several months, but the basic minimum should still be one or two days. To decay in one hour... Could it be that the cells stimulated by the Hero Substance also age faster?" Amamiya Kenichi licked his lips.
If that were the case, then it truly did match the name "Hero" quite well.
"But I still need to conduct several more experiments, and I also need to test whether a large amount of Hero's Water will cause sudden death." Amamiya Kenichi pinched the bridge of his nose.
Conducting experiments was truly not simple.
Fortunately, he still had some time.
He had already instructed Uchiha Shiori to keep an eye on intelligence from the Ninja World, so he could initiate his plan whenever information arrived.
During this period, Kazahana Koyuki had also begun assisting Minato Namikaze in preparing the necessary supplies for the Ninja War.
With the help of the Edo Tensei Minato, the entire process went very smoothly.
The uncooperative nobles in the Land of Snow had already been purged once before, and now they were purged again. It could be said that within the capital of the Land of Snow, Amamiya Kenichi's will was the will of the entire capital.
Amamiya Kenichi's words were the law of this country.
They were no different from a divine decree.
Of course, these matters had nothing to do with Amamiya Kenichi for now.
He was still conducting experiments, and he had no desire to worry about anything else at the moment.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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